Contemporary abstract artist Gina Keatley has announced Motto Motto, a new five-painting acrylic-on-canvas series created between New York City and Akō, Japan. The series, which takes its name from the Japanese word motto, meaning "more," and doubles it into a rhythm of continuation, arrives at a moment when Keatley is completing the ownership transition of Bushwick Gallery in Brooklyn and expanding Salt Road Studio, an artist-led platform in Akō focused on contemporary art, publishing, international exchange, and future residency programming. The convergence of these developments signals more than a new body of work; it marks a deliberate reorientation of Keatley's practice toward a broader international framework.
The five paintings—More Depth, More Motion, More Expanse, More Resonance, and More Cadence—each measure 48 by 36 inches. Across blush, cream, sand, smoke, and pale earth tones, Keatley layers acrylic, scrapes, veils, interrupts, and rebuilds the surface. Faint flashes of mandarin orange, introduced through her raindrop technique, bring energy to the quieter palette while darker marks and fragments remain visible beneath. As Keatley explains, "Motto Motto is about pushing past the first point where a painting feels finished. It is about taking more from the process. More time, more movement, more pressure, more room to see what the work can become."
Rather than illustrating Japan, the series treats the movement between New York and Akō as a working condition. Distance, atmosphere, and cultural experience enter the paintings through process instead of literal imagery. Accumulation, revision, and return become the shared structure connecting the five canvases. This approach reflects a broader trend in contemporary art where transnational experience informs abstraction not through direct representation but through material and method.
The geographic shift is also institutional. After founding and directing Bushwick Gallery, Keatley is completing the gallery's ownership transition while turning greater attention toward Salt Road Studio. The Akō-based initiative connects her New York practice with the Seto Inland Sea region and is being developed to support contemporary art, artist-led publishing, international exchange, and future residency programming. This move positions Keatley at the intersection of artistic production and cultural infrastructure, expanding her influence beyond the studio.
The result is a body of work that feels weathered and newly made at once: soft in palette, yet insistent in presence. Each painting carries its own cadence while remaining part of a shared visual language built through touch, interruption, and persistence. Motto Motto marks a continued refinement of Keatley's abstract practice and a transition toward a broader international framework.
Viewers can explore the series and press images at https://untamedmoderns.com/gina-keatley-motto-motto-series/. The platform Untamed Moderns, which presents Keatley's work, can be found at https://untamedmoderns.com.
For the art world, the announcement underscores how artists are increasingly building transnational practices that integrate creation, curation, and institutional development. Keatley's dual focus on painting and platform-building suggests a model where the studio and the art center reinforce each other, potentially influencing how artists navigate global networks and local contexts.
